The burden on forensic psychiatry in the country has increased sharply in recent years as more people have been sentenced to forensic psychiatric care, at the same time as treatment times have increased. For a long time, occupancy rates over 100 percent have been reported throughout the country, and according to the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SKR) prognosis, the need for care will continue to increase in the coming years.
We see an increased need for care, and it is clear that then comes also thoughts about financing and distribution of it, it becomes even more current, says Anna-Lena Hogerud.
The state should pay
The so-called Care Responsibility Committee proposed last summer that the state should take over all or part of the financial responsibility for forensic psychiatry from the regions, which SKR now supports in a referral.
Anna-Lena Hogerud emphasizes that forensic psychiatry differs from the rest of the care chain, where the regions themselves have no control over either the inflow or outflow of patients. It is instead based on how many are sentenced to forensic psychiatric care.
It is the judicial system that decides who should receive this care, but still the responsibility lies entirely with the home region and the region also has the full cost responsibility, she says.
Then we think it is reasonable that one strengthens the state's responsibility for this care.
No nationalization
SKR also supports the committee's proposal that an investigation should review how the state's system responsibility, powers and control of forensic psychiatric care can be developed.
It is important that one can get good quality of care even with an increased need for care.
However, SKR does not want to see any nationalization. According to Anna-Lena Hogerud, it is important to be able to keep forensic psychiatry together with the rest of the psychiatric care conducted in the regions, which the Care Responsibility Committee also considered.
Marc Skogelin/TT
Facts: Forensic psychiatric care
TT
Those who suffer from a serious mental disorder and commit a crime should be sentenced to forensic psychiatric care. For most of those sentenced to forensic psychiatric care, a so-called special discharge assessment (SUP) is also decided.
SUP means that the administrative court, not the chief physician, decides when a patient is discharged. The court shall in those cases make an overall assessment of the person's situation, where one particularly takes into account the risk of relapse into crime.
